Dust to Dust
by Sapphy98
Summary: Before Wirt, and before Greg. The Unknown was still there. And some still found themselves awaking in the midst of its strange Purgatory. Such is the situation of one Dorothy Boggs, who awakens in the middle of the forest. It wouldn't be long before she found her way to a nearby cabin, and (eventually) would help to set in motion something that would change the Unknown forever...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I: Into the World**

"_Oh...it isn't so" _

"_Tell me.." _

"_NO!" _

"_I'm sorry..." _

"_How long.." _

"_...okay..." _

Dorothy woke up coughing and sputtering. She rolled on her side, peeling herself off the ground - her fists clenching full of Maple leaves and acorns. Tucking her flushed face into her elbow she coughed again, her throat finally feeling clear. That was an amazing feeling, no gritting of sand between her molars, and no permanent plaster of dirt in the back of her throat. She scowled.

"This isn't...what..." she frowned in confusion. Hadn't she just been in her house? In Oklahoma. Now she was seemingly in the middle of a thicket of trees. Trees. Trees like she had never seen before. Thick, lush, green. Brushing a hand through her long light brown hair, she pulled the thick stands into a relatively controllable mass, most of it behind her, left to droop down her back to her hips. Sniffing, she straightened her handmade dress - fashioned from a patterned seed bag by her own mother - and began to walk. The moonlight filtered down through the leaves, and with each step there was a crinkle under foot of twigs and other forest debris. One hand steadying herself against a nearby cherry tree, she peeked out from around the edge of the trunk. Directly ahead of her was a cozy looking cabin, settled in the middle of a newly made clearing, stumps surrounding the backside of it, and a well not to far from where she now stood. Biting here bottom lip gently, she stepped out of the shelter of the forest.

Dorothy cautiously knocked on the wooden door as she stood on the porch.

"Father? Is that you?" a light, clearly female, voice called from inside the homestead. "I..uh..." Dorothy stammered as the door swung open, revealing a girl who couldn't be too much older than herself with big eyes. The other girl blinked in surprise.

"Who are..." the girl began. Dorothy shifted uncomfortably on her feet for a moment.

"I'm Dorothy..." she stated quickly.

"I don't know how I got here..I just...I came from the woods..." she tried to elaborate, throwing her hands in a motion towards the thicket of trees far behind her. The girl's eyebrows pushed forward in thought and a frown fluttered across her face, before her expression changed to a more inviting, soft, smile.

"Well...It wouldn't be very polite to just let you freeze out there...It's almost autumn and the nights are getting colder." she sighed, drawing herself back into the house and stepping aside to let the younger teen through.

"Thank you." Dorothy quickly replied. The Woodsman's daughter smiled reassuringly.

"Why don't you have a seat..." she frowned, her eyes focusing in on Dorothy's dress. It was clothing, but the dress sure wasn't thick. And most of it was pretty patched together. Although she could feel the warm amber glow of the fire, she was still chilled on the inside from laying for who knows how long unconscious in the forest.

"Here. You know what...I'll be right back..." the girl exclaimed, an idea popping to life on her face. Dorothy nodded, taking a silent seat on the couch. She outstretched her hands, feeling the warm bite of the fire at her palms.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Okay, so this is literally the first story I have ever submitted to the public like this. Ever. Although I am widely accepting of constructive criticism, just please make sure that it is constructive criticism. Anyways, reviews would be pretty awesome, and I will be continuing this and updating it hopefully on a regular basis. (I think I'm gonna shoot for Wednesdays, so I should be updating at least once a week. It depends on my homework load...) I sorta know where I'm going with it, but things might change here and there and I may change the rating - it just depends on how people feel about dark themes and such. There won't however, be any sexual content in this story, or any story I hope to publish on here in the future. I hope you enjoy reading it! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II: Dinner Among Friends**

Maud brushed aside the few stacks of clothes she had in her dresser drawer. It was one of the only pieces of furniture in her small bedroom -next to a small table and her bed itself. It was old and worn with the years; her father had made it just after he had built the actual house. She smiled faintly at the memories. Surprisingly it had only taken one summer to be completely finished- although it was done enough to live in within a month. Her dad would constantly cut wood, and they both worked to steady it into the shape of a building, and then, when they took breaks, Maud would explore the forest around the house. Her hand hesitated over a small book, settled at the bottom of her drawer. The nostalgic smile that had crept onto her lips with the reminiscence had quickly faded as her fingers hovered over the cover - which seemed to be handcrafted from tight leather, and dyed pitch black. There was a set of double locks extending over the thicket of ragged dirt-stained pages, latching the novel shut tightly. A knock at the front door drug her back to reality, out of the new course of thoughts that had welled up in her mind.

"Coming!" she shouted, quickly grabbing the dress and scarf she had in the corner of the drawer. Not like she had worn the outfit in a year or two...but it seemed like it could fit the girl...Dorothy...who was sitting in the foyer downstairs. Shuffling a wad of clothing back over the book, she shut her drawer with a wooden creak, and hurried out of the room to head back downstairs.

Dorothy's eyebrows seemed to be stuck in an upward position, giving her face a sheepish yet intellectual look as she gazed into the fire. She just couldn't figure out how she had gotten in the middle of the woods. In fact, she couldn't quite remember what she had been doing before waking up either...maybe she was doing chores? Or just got home from school? Or dreaming? She frowned at that last one and pinched herself on her arm. Nope. It was all far too real to be a dream. She jumped slightly as a knock on the door rang out through the small room - turning to face the pitter-patter of Maud's feet as she flew down the stairs, one hand holding her skirt as not to trip on it, the other a bundle of clothing. She swung the door open with a grin.

"Father." she started, stepping aside and letting a stocky middle aged man past her before shutting the door. Dorothy awkwardly stood up, a hand tangling in her thick hair nervously. The man scooped Maud into a hug.

"I made dinner. Stew. And uh...we have a guest." she explained quickly, her hands clasping behind her back. The other girl waved hesitantly, the fire reflecting off her rosy cheeks and turning her sky blue eyes slate gold. The light silhouetted her figure in a way that it was easy to see she hadn't eaten well in awhile, or maybe she was just naturally thin.

"I..I'm Dorothy." she answered without being asked, averting her eyes to the side - suddenly deciding to admire the blue porcelain vase on the side table where a bouquet of goldenrod hung in a lonely bow. The Woodsman paused for a moment, as if to say something, before catching the look in his daughter's eyes.

"Make yourself at home." he sighed gruffly, making his way across the room. He unclipped the straps of his custom made haversack and plopped the load of wood to the floor.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Maud smiled cheekily, handing Dorothy the dress. She blinked, staring down at the garments.

"Really?" she questioned in surprise. These clothes looked really nice. Maud chuckled lightly.

"Yeah. I mean. You look really cold, and I that dress hasn't fit me in years." she assured, her forest green eyes showing no hidden doubt.

"I-I couldn't..." Dorothy muttered, slowly starting to push the clothes back to the older girl.

"Honestly." Maud stated, firmly pressing them back towards her without a moment of pause. Dorothy sighed.

"If you're sure." she nodded with a small smile.

"You can change upstairs. My room is right on the left." Maud added after a moment. Dorothy nodded a silent thanks and headed up the stairs.

"Did she just show up?" the Woodsman asked as Dorothy disappeared upstairs, his eyes following the sound of her footsteps on the ceiling with a somber frown. "Well...yes..." Maud admitted as they began to move their conversation into the dining room, passing through the kitchen. The Woodsman frowned.

"Honestly, you shouldn't let strangers in the house while I'm gone..." he muttered. Maud flashed him a small frown.

"She's just a girl - and by the looks of it she's even a bit younger than me." she added after a moment, as they reached the dining room.

"I will have to set another place for her." she pondered, raking a hand through her hair to adjust her choppy side swept bangs, turning to head back to the cupboard that housed the dishware. It was an amazement to her that they even had more than the two plates and an extra chair...they hadn't had guests...well, ever...at least in her memories.

Dorothy frowned after slipping her original dress over her head, patting her flat stomach as she stared into the tall mirror that was propped up on the far side of the room, its heavy brass frame leaning against the wall. She had lost weight again. If she lost anymore she could probably be considered underweight. The smell wafting through the house however told her that she might be eating well tonight. Unfolding the black dress she examined the soft fabric. It seemed to be a knitted sweater material. The cream colored scarf was a similar fabric. Setting the scarf down she pulled the dress over her head, adjusting it over her brassiere until it fell into place. Turning around she examined how baggy it was. The sleeves were quite large on her, but everything else seemed to fall into place at least relatively well. There was only a minor singe of fabric around the smallest part of her torso at her waist and the garment came down to just barely past her knees. Perhaps Maud had some stockings she could borrow. After folding up the dress she came in, she set it to the side, out of the way where it wouldn't be a bother -alongside the scarf- and headed for the door. She hesitated, one hand hovering on the door frame before she decided to go. She'd like to look around a bit more, but that would probably be rude.

The Woodsman scooped some of the hearty beef stew onto his plate after Maud had dished out herself some and Dorothy some. Quietly, Dorothy walked through the kitchen, her head swiveling left and right as she followed the noise of people in the otherwise deserted homestead.

"Come have a seat. I already dished you up some food." Maud stated as Dorothy finally entered the room. She placed the serving spoon back down into the dish of pot roast and sat back in her chair.

"Thank you." Dorothy managed sincerely, trying futilely to keep her mouth from watering at the sight of the classic wintertime food. There were potatoes, and carrots, and big chunks of beef. Maud hid her mouth with a hand as she stifled a chuckle at the other girl's reaction. Dorothy took a seat, scooting into the table and picking up her fork. She shoved a steaming hot chunk of food into her mouth as the Woodsman glanced over to her.

"So, what brings you to my cabin?" he asked after a moment. She puffed out a bit of steam from her mouth as she tried to quickly chew and swallow. This was the best food ever.

"Oh..I don't really know." she admitted, twirling her fork as she thought for a moment.

"I mean. I just woke up in the middle of the woods. I know who I am, and where I'm from. But uh...I just don't know how I got here." she tried to explain before taking another bite - this time of a robust potato. The Woodsman nodded.

"That tends to happen around here..." he sighed, trailing off. The place they lived in was strange. But at least it was peaceful. Dorothy tilted her head slightly at the remark, but continued to gnaw down on the chewy piece of beef she had forked into her mouth. "So where are you from?" Maud inquired as she cut herself a chunk of carrot and placed it in her own mouth, chewing as she waited for a response. Dorothy swallowed. "Oklahoma." she answered with a cheeky little grin.

"Things still are a little blurry though. But I would know it if I saw it." she determined. Maud nodded, a sympathetic smile flashing before she took another bite. "This food is amazing. Did you cook it by yourself?" she asked, deciding to continue the small talk. Maud shook her head in the positive.

"Yes. It's a hobby of mine." she elaborated.

"Father spends his days chopping wood. So I like to cook or go for walks. I suppose it's a skill acquired over time." she finished, a light note to her voice. From what Dorothy had observed, Maud was a strange mix of polite and hyperactive. It wouldn't have surprised her if the older girl spent hours aimlessly skipping through the towering forest outside. On the contrary Dorothy was a quite awkward mix of quiet and internally opinionated. She thought a lot, but didn't say much of it out loud. But she liked these people so far. Even the Woodsman who was a bit quiet.

"Oh! I should get some blankets set up for you on the couch." Maud remembered, shoving her seat back.

"That's okay. We're not even done eating yet..." Dorothy tried to say, her sentence ending in a hiccup. She had eaten her plate pretty fast. She covered her mouth, her face flushing red. Maud laughed. The sudden sound even caused a bit of a chuckle to escape the Woodsman's lips as he swallowed a bite of roast.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay, So I have decided to name the Woodsman's daughter Maud after the Maud in the featured in the painting "The Woodsman's Daughter" by Sir John Everett Millais. This painting and such will play a bit of a role later on in the story too. Because I just love tossing different references into my writing. ;) As of now, Wednesdays do seem like a good day (I know. I didn't update until Thursday. XD But I've been busy) . I, however, have exams coming up as well as ACTs and such. My homework load has also been pretty high lately. So if I don't manage to post quite on time, I will be posting sometime. I might also try to post another chapter this weekend. But I am writing it as I go, so it takes some time. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III: Schweinville**

It was the first week of Autumn, real autumn. Dorothy's soft blue eyes followed the brandy dipped leaves as they toppled from the trees' crowns. It had been close to two weeks since she had woken up in the Unknown. It was quiet moments like these - which she didn't get many of with Maud tramping about. Although the girl was older than her (precisely by a year she had found out about four days into her stay) she still acted with so much more jubilance than herself. If only her sisters could see her, they'd get along so well - their childish innocence meshing with Maud's similar disposition. Thinking of the family she had pushed to the back of her mind, a smile graced her lips A cough from the other room interrupted her thoughts and her smile was quickly tugged away.

"Father, You shouldn't strain yourself as so." Maud's persistent voice protested.

"There is wood to be cut, and a fire to be -" the Woodsman's voice crackled and died off with a dry cough. Dorothy peeked around the corner, watching as Maud gently guided her father by the shoulder to set him down on the nearby couch. It was easy to observe that the Woodsman was feverish, his eyes that corralling that sickish glaze, and beads of cold sweat gathering at the edges of his peppered - slowly graying - hair. It was easy to see that within a few years, it would turn fully to gray as he was getting up there in years.

"Oh! Dorothy!" Maud called, spotting the younger teen who was hovering silently. Dorothy blinked.

"Could you get the honey from the kitchen?" She asked after a moment, her eyebrows pushed together in sympathetic worry as she glanced down at her father. His face flushed a bright shade of scarlet and his breathing similarly more labored then usual.

"Yeah." Dorothy accepted, turning on her feet and heading back into the kitchen, the floorboards squeaking as she went. Maud had an old copy of some hermetic book splayed open on the side table that had once held the blue vase of goldenrod that had been there upon her arrival. The girl's frown deepened as she flipped through the book relentlessly. Dorothy shuffled through the cupboard above her head, standing on her tiptoes. Her feet were clad in warm woolen socks, thick and comfortable - she figured someone had hand made them. Or that's what it seemed with the majority of things in this strange place. Maud had told her of her escapades into the village twenty or so miles away. They usually took her a couple days to complete. She flicked the glass bottle full of the thick amber sugar forward with the tips of her fingers, and caught it with her palm as it teetered on the cupboard shelf's edge for a moment. Holding the small jug close, she headed out, back into the living room space.

"Here." She smiled reassuringly, handing the bottle to Maud who continued to flip the pages of the worn book.

"Father." She muttered, pressing the lip of the bottle to his lips. Gingerly he swallowed the natural sweetener and trembled.

"I'm afraid I don't know what else to do..." Maud sighed, her lower lip wavering with the slightest bit of a tremble. Sickness with the changing seasons was definitely unavoidable, but it been a long time since her father had caught something as bad as whatever he had. The Woodsman sniffed loudly, seeming to sink into the couch a bit. Maud's hand brushed through her chestnut hair uncomfortably as she shut the book with a heavy poof of dust.

"I know who would know how to fix you up..." she determined after a moment of disambiguate thought. The Woodsman shook his head negatively.

"There's no need for that, I will get better -" he broke off in a coughing hack again. He couldn't even make it through a whole sentence before he was interrupted by an undeniable cough. Maud handed him a fourth tissue as his nose began to run again.

"Father. I am going to go fetch some medicine from in town. I'm sure dear old Adelaide has a serum or two to solve a cough, and I can pick up some supplies on the way for soup as well." she decided, crossing her arms and looking down at her sick dad with determination alight in her murky green eyes. He gruffly sighed in resignation.

"I suppose if you must..." he conceded. She smiled softly, her dimples standing out at the corners of her plump pink lips.

"Alright. We will be quick." she nodded, planting a gentle peck on the side of the Woodman's cheek.

"Please rest while we're gone." she added, turning to face Dorothy. They had plenty of fuel for the fire and the last thing she wanted was for her father to literally work himself until he couldn't work anymore and end up passed out somewhere in the woods. It was getting colder out every night. Dorothy's eyebrows pushed up in question. She was going with her?

"Okay, Dorothy. We should head out now." she stated, glancing out the window beside the cobblestone hearth. The velvet creme colored curtains were parted and showed the vast array of sunny colors that turned the treetops to intangible flames in the noon day sun. She scurried over to the coat rack beside the door and gathered up her favorite shawl. It was a dark shade of green and buttoned tightly up the front, featuring a high collar to keep out the intrusive Autumn breeze. She grabbed the woven wicker basket that was resting below the coat rack, and leaning against the wall with a smooth movement and slipped her feet into her leather shoes simultaneously.

"Oh! Almost forgot..." she muttered under her breath, plopping the basket back down, but not bothering to remove her shoes or shawl before turning back to the inside of the house. Dorothy frowned slightly.

"Wha-"

"I forgot something." Maud stated, brushing her hand through the air in a dismissing motion as she fluidly bounded back across the living room and up the flight of stairs. Maud got to the top of the steps in a second, and headed directly into her room - the first (and only) door on the left. Yanking open the second to bottom drawer of her dresser she lifted a stack of clothes and tossed them to the other end of the rectangular space, revealing that comfortably familiar leather bound book. Casting a green eyed glance over her shoulder - just to double check that nobody was watching her - she plucked it up and shoved it under her arm; concealing it with her long shawl. She shut the drawer quietly and headed back out the door, plummeting down the steps in a series of bounds. Sometimes it amazed even her that she was able to land up right with the way she moved.

"Okay, now we can head out!" she smiled broadly, rushing past Dorothy and throwing the front door open.

"Right..." Dorothy muttered, sparing a glance back at the sickly Woodsman who rolled over on the couch with a huff, before following her friend out the door; her scarf wrapped tightly around her neck.

A small stone skittered away from Dorothy's foot as she kicked it away in amusement. She puffed out her cheeks and looked to the Maud's back. The older girl had been strangely silent for the last hour or so, an air of utter resolute shown within each step she took. Her berry basket tapped her tight clad calf, bouncing back and forth as they continued their winding trek through the woods. Dorothy had counted the basket's swings 237 times. The silence was killing her.

"Maud?" she finally spoke up, her voice cracking from nervousness and little use for the past couple of hours. The sun was beginning to set already; hues of pink and orange accentuated into dappling tongues of fire on the grass underfoot- and with them being surrounded by ten foot trees on both sides she was willing to wager that the shadows of night would overtake them sooner than usual. She cleared her throat. Maud sighed.

"Sorry Dorothy. I know, I'm being quite quiet..." she frowned, pausing her steps and turning to face Dorothy as she finally caught up. Maud's eyebrows pushed upwards in a sheepish sort of way.

"It's just..." she huffed.

"I worry about my father..." she explained. Dorothy slowly shifted her hands in front of her, in a defensive manner.

"No. I uh...I didn't mean it like that. I just..." she stammered.

"When are we going to stop for the night?" she elaborated awkwardly. Maud blinked. "Oh..." she muttered.

"Well...I think we're coming on a village now." she smiled, pointing her free hand to a small worn out sign at the bend in the path. It was a double set of arrows with hand written lettering burnt into it. The right arrow, the one which Maud was gesturing to, was inscribed

"Schweinville, .5 miles". The other was pointing out the way to the town to which they were headed - but the distance beside it was "16 miles". The fact that they had only traveled about 4 miles settled in Dorothy's gut like a rock.

"Okay..." she agreed, glancing back to the sign. Brightly colored leaves of amber and sunny yellow were toppling down from the ancient maple that sat in between the two forks. The bark of the tree was peeling down in rivets and if the blanket of leaves on the ground was any thicker, it would be trouble just to tell that there were two well worn dirt paths at all, if not for the crooked sign. She quickly tore herself from her observations, opting instead to follow her friend down the right path. It was less worn.

A half an hour had passed since the duo had come to the fork in the road, and Dorothy's theory had been proven true. The trees seemed to suck the last seconds of daylight away prematurely - leaving the teenagers walking in a forest bathed by hues of lavender to black. She really disliked it. Forests in themselves were new territory to her, but the darkness was amplifying any doubt of security and safety that had fluttered through her mind. Safety in numbers was a weak proposition when there were only two of them, and she could've sworn something was following them.

"Uh..Maud...Did you hear that?" she questioned timidly, pausing in her gait after a particularly loud snap that sounded suspiciously like a twig underfoot, before, in turn, quickening her pace to close the distance between her and her friend. Maud sighed, an indignant sort of smile playing on her lips.

"Dorothy. I've told you...the woods are like an old house, they settle at night and make funny noises." she reiterated with a shake of her head. Dorothy's face twisted into a tight and flustered frown. The older girl was probably right. It was probably the wind or something.

"Oh...this must be Schweinville?" Maud observed as their path abruptly ended, opening like the mouth of a river into a dirt clearing littered with small straw houses, round and only just above the teens' heads in height. The largest stood at perhaps five foot seven inches?

"I don't understand...?" Dorothy muttered, her blue eyes scanning the dark town in absolute confusion and creases deepening the age of her face as she scowled. A cold night breeze had started up, and the only sound in the ghost town seemed to be the wind rustling through the loosely packed straw. She gathered her arms around herself, shivering slightly.

"Now wh-" Dorothy's serious question was interrupted by a wail as a small pink creature erupted from the closest hut. Dorothy screamed right along with it, and Maud jumped letting out a squeak. Dorothy's eyes widened into large saucers, a majority of the color coming from her sclera rather than her iris in fright. It was a pig? On two legs...

Maud broke out in a light chuckle.

"Oh my. You frightened us there..." she mumbled, wiping a tear that had began to well up at the corner of her almond eye from the tummy full of laughter. The creature seemed to be trembling in a combination of fear and panic. He shook his head in an avid gesture to head back towards the house, and Dorothy couldn't help but think that she either was dreaming, or not quite right in the head. The tiny animal was walking like any human would, although he only seemed to reach the girls' waists. How could she tell it was a he? Well he was wearing a set of overalls, the cuffs bunched up just above his little piggy hooves. There was a pig, wearing overalls, grabbing Maud by the hand, and yanking them back towards his tiny straw house.

"Schweinville...oh, I see now." Maud chuckled as they were tugged through the entrance of the nearby - five foot four - house. Dorothy hunched over to squish herself into the limited space as she reluctantly followed Maud and the pig through the door; unsure of what else she could do. At least it was toasty and warm inside the miniature building. She brushed her hair back, trying to get it out of her face, where it had blown in the rush as she took in the almost dollhouse like surroundings. There was a table, a couple of wooden chairs, three candles that illuminated the whole of the living space, and even a small bed, all to scale.

"I...I don't mean to be rude...but wh...I...Maud...?" Dorothy blinked, finally speaking out, still incredibly shocked. She was feeling quite disoriented; like she out of the loop of some inside joke. Apparently all of this was perfectly normal to her older friend. Maud smiled, setting the small basket down - Dorothy had come to wonder what she was carrying in it since she had noticed her slip something into it after they left the house.

"Right. You're not from around here." she sighed, a knowing smirk prying at the edges of her lips like a marionette's string.

"This is pretty normal for around here." she elaborated. Dorothy just deadpanned, not sure how she should react.

"Oh...okay then..." she muttered, nodding her head slowly, up and down. She supposed she should just get on with it and accept the fact that there seemed to be, what she could only assume as, a village of human like pigs who lived in tiny houses in the middle of the woods.

"Alright..." she muttered again. Maud snickered lightly.

"You'll get used to it." she promised, placing a reassuring hand on Dorothy's shoulder for a moment before turning to face their host. He was still trembling and looking back and forth, a candle on a silver holder clasped in one of his front hoofs. Maud's eyebrows pushed together in confusion.

"Is there something wrong sir?" she asked seriously, glancing around. The wind was beginning to pick up, to a point where it would turn from a steady gust to a howl. It was then that a howl separate from the windy weather rang out - distinct and shriekingly shrill. Dorothy jumped, the pig frantically looked back and forth making tiny squealing sounds in huffs of aggravated snorts, and Maud tensed, grabbing the edge of the small table she was sitting near.

"What was that...?" Dorothy questioned, her voice rising an octave or so as she posed the grimly valid question. Half of her already knew the answer. It was some crazy forest monster of the night; probably the same one she had feared they were being stalked by before they were dragged into the straw homestead. Suddenly there was the sound of hot breath under the very edge of the straw. The puckered edges of the very base of the walls began to prick up slightly as _something _made its way from the door around the outer edge of the hut. Dorothy gulped as she took note of the clicking of claws on the stray stones that littered the short grass, and the constantly reverberating chesty washboard growl that was coming from the throat of the monster. The pig rushed to blow out all the lit candles; throwing the room into darkness. They could just make out the light of the moon, filtering down from the thatch roof and through the hazy candle smoke that had erupted from the dying of the candles. Dorothy brushed the wisps of pungent air away from her face, taking a gingerly tender step away from the wall, squishing into the center of the house - closer to Maud and the pig. She trembled slightly.

"Maud...is this normal for around here too..." she blinked, wide eyed. Maud frowned tightly, her eyes sliding up to the ceiling as she felt a cold wet drop of liquid spattering on her hand.

"Oh no..." she muttered as rain drops began to tumble through the poorly made roof. The wind had picked up to the point where it was drowning out any other sounds - sounds of the creature that was most likely still outside, and the walls were shaking.

"No..no..no..." she continued, stepping away from the table in the center of the room as the rain began to pick up. Suddenly they were being drenched by what seemed to be a torrential downpour. Maud huffed, quickly kicking the berry basket she had brought with her under the table to shield it from the rain. The pig let out a squeal as the first wall toppled, straw giving way, and being swept into the air by the strong wind, disorienting the girls.

"Maud!" Dorothy screamed as she tripped over her own feet, falling backwards and plummeting through the other wall in a flurry of hay, landing hard on her tailbone. She cringed, feeling the tears well up in her eyes as she tried to squint through the pain; what was happening to them was happening to the whole village, as pigs darted about - nothing but pink blurs in the darkness and constant rain.

"Come on! We have to go!" Maud shouted, her voice muffled by a crack of thunder. The lightning came not even a second after the sky's clap, illuminating the disarray and chaos for a split second - casting deeply contoured shadows across everything. She felt the older girl grip her hand tightly and yank her up.

"Where?! Where do we go?! I can't even see..." she sputtered, her head whipping back towards the broken down village, and back to Maud as she tried to catch her feet. Mud stained her friend's face, and she was willing to bet she had more on her own. They took off, sprinting.

"Anywhere we can get out of the rain!" she exclaimed, determination glinting in her green eyes as she drug Dorothy along with her. The younger girl let out a cry as she caught her foot on a jutting root - they were just at the edge of the forest, opposite of where they came in - and collapsed forward, her knees taking the brunt of her fall. She hissed, looking down at the road rash like injury. She could feel a hot sticky liquid adding to the mess of mud that already dribbled down her legs; definitely blood.

"Dorothy. Come on. You have to get up." Maud persisted, turning back and crouching down to help her friend up. There was a large snap of a branch off to the area behind Dorothy's back. Maud whipped her head to look just behind where Dorothy had fallen. She bit her bottom lip for a moment.

"Dorothy we have to go." she stated blankly, gripping her friend by the forearms and yanking her up to steady her back on her feet - her emerald orbs never leaving the slanted, ominously yellow ones a few feet behind Dorothy.

"Mau-"

"Dorothy. When I say three. We take off." she interrupted, her stare still preoccupied with the thing that was slowly stalking towards them. Dorothy had a hunch there was something behind her, but she wasn't going to look. She gulped.

"Oka-"

"One, two,...three!" Maud shouted. Neither girl hesitated as they began to run - noticing the heavy thuds of paws behind them.

"No wait!" Maud stammered as they bolted uphill, breaking through the thicket of trees. The ground here was rockier, and dirty. The older girl skidded to a stop, wavering about a foot from the end of a large drop off that led into a dark gully.

"Wh-?" Dorothy blinked, her momentum continuing to carry her past Maud. "Dorothy!" Maud shouted, dropping the basket and scrambling to catch the back of her friend's dress. It was only in the well timed flash of lightning that Dorothy realized their surroundings, and just how close she had come to toppling off the edge, and into a two hundred foot free fall. She whipped backwards, yanking her leading foot back from where it hovered - above open air, looking back to a wide eyed Maud.

"I...Oh my God..." Dorothy squeaked out, barely audible, before slapping a hand over her pale face. Relief flooded Maud's expression, a wobbly smile gracing her expression. But that moment was short lived and shattered as another howl rang out. Dorothy's legs trembled from the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she faced the thing that had been chasing them. Maud looked sick to her stomach, as the large wolf approached slowly, its teeth bright and sharp in even the dark night, its slate gray fur matted in several places. She spared a silent glance at Dorothy as her hand inched towards the book in her basket. The wolf stood up onto its hind legs, seeming to move just as easily bipedal as quadrupedal like it had been a moment before. Another bolt of lighting flashed across the sky like a spindling scar, lighting up the face of their adversary.

"This is it..this is it...we're going to die..." Dorothy panicked, her face distorted with fear.

"Wait!" a new voice barked; a sort of whimpering whine. Maud's hand didn't let up as she paused pulling the book out from its hiding place, her eyes sliding over to the wolf.

"Did that wolf just...t-talk?" Dorothy stuttered. Her mind felt like it was going to implode, and she was unsure if her throbbing headache was caused by the sprint and change in altitude, or the fact that there was a talking, walking, wolf coming towards them.

"Everybody runs...everybody runs..." the creature sputtered in a quiet whine, his - judging by the voice - front paws brushing against each other, almost nervously.

"That he did..." Maud pursed her lips.

"Just another one of our abnormal normalities..." she chuckled grimly, throwing Dorothy an unsure smile.

How did she even have a smile plastered on her face at a time like this?

"I'm truly sorry, I didn't mean to intimidate you." the wolf muttered, falling back onto four legs as he cautiously stepped forward.

"W-what?" Dorothy muttered.

"Surely you want to get out of the rain..." he sighed, head lowering slightly, his amber eyes trailing upwards to the girls. Maud let the book slip back under the felt handkerchief and took a brave step forward.

"Where?" Maud inquired, crossing her arms, her soaking wet dress making a squeegee sound.

"My home." he explained, turning, his tail lowered, his face looking back over his shoulder.

"Maud...he just chased us..."

"We need to get out of the rain"

"But..."

"Come on."

"Fine." Dorothy conceded, cautiously following Maud, who followed the wolf, as they wandered down a winding rocky trail at the side of the cliff. Every time a flash illuminated the sky, Dorothy could see the band of raging water cascading through the gully below - its color only able to be described as that of emerald Alpine rivers.

The girls entered a small brick building silently. A fire raged in the fireplace, heating the room to a comfortable temperature, and casting a golden hue onto the walls, as well as giving everything a soft edged shadow.

"Shoes by the door please..." the wolf stated, giving his own paws a good wipe on the doormat to clear them of the mud that had crept between his toes. Dorothy exchanged an unsure glance with Maud, but slipped her shoes off, as did she. Dorothy raised an eyebrow at the extra set of boots that was lying dormant off to the side. They hadn't seemed to be used in awhile. Both of them had hair plastered around their faces, Dorothy's being the longest was also the most messy and tangled. Maud smiled apologetically, plucking a twig out of her friend's hair with a sort of half shrug. It hadn't been such a good idea to stop in Schweinville, and now Dorothy was paying for it; her knees bloody and scraped up and her hair in muddy tangles. The wolf took a seat at the table in the center of the spacious room. It was then that Maud noticed the limp he had.

"What's wrong with your paw?" she questioned quietly, setting her basket down and making her own way over to the table. Dorothy cautiously followed, taking a seat across from the wolf and to the side of Maud. The wolf shook his head.

"It's nothing...just...I was heading into town...and I got caught in a bramble bush." he elaborated, his voice raspy - but in an oddly unnatural way.

"It's not as bad as the clump I got in my throat trying to escape. Thumbs really would've come in handy." he added quietly after a moment, a sad look creeping up in his eyes.

"Oh dear." Maud muttered, internally cringing at the thought of having thorns caught in her throat. That must have been painful.

"Let me see..." she smiled small. Dorothy watched her with wary eyes. The wolf hesitated, but slowly stretched his injured paw out. She flipped it, spreading his toes and quickly locating the source of the problem - a thorn was caught in his foot pad, causing it to become tender and swollen.

"It'll just be a little prick..." she mumbled, gripping the edge of the thorn. With one fluid movement she popped the sharp foreign object out of the wolf's paw. He let out a whine, pulling his foot back to his chest. He sniffed it, giving the wound a quick lick.

"Thanks." he sighed.

"Everybody has been so scared of me...and I couldn't even talk until this morning with that clump of thorns in my thro-"

"This morning?" Dorothy contemplated.

"Then why didn't you say anything earlier! Like when you were chasing us?" she glared, a scowl on her face.

The wolf's ears flattened.

"Admittedly, I don't run much, and I knew you girls were headed towards that cliff, and it was dark." he began.

"I didn't think I would be the one to nearly run you off the edge. I wanted to warn you..." he sighed, his chin resting on the tabletop. Dorothy made a cheeky frown and went to retort before she was cut off by Maud.

"Well then, why didn't you say something when we were in the village?" she blinked, her head resting on her hands, her nose not too far away from the wolfs.

"I tried..." he protested with a whine.

"But nobody would listen, and by the time you two got here, there was a storm coming, and I just...I don't think they can understand me...it's part of the uh...never mind..." he rambled awkwardly.

"I see..." Maud shook her head indignantly, brushing off his strange behavior. Dorothy's eyebrows pushed up in disbelief. Was this sort of thing logical around here? "Well. If that's all. May we stay the night?" Maud questioned after a moment. The wolf barked.

"Of course." he stated.

Dorothy woke to early morning light steaming directly into her face. She blinked, squeezing her eyes shut uncomfortably, before cracking them open a bit. It appeared she was the first one up. The wolf was curled up on the floor in front of the fireplace, and Maud was passed out at the table. Dorothy humphed, peeling herself off the floor and tiptoeing her way to where her friend was asleep. She crouched at the foot of the chair, pulling the basket that Maud had been carrying the whole time over to her and brushing back the velvet cloth; revealing an old book, leather bound, and locked with clasps.

Why would Maud be carrying a book around?

"Dorothy...? What are you doing?" Maud sniffed, groggily, rubbing fists into her closed eyes as she yawned.

"Oh..uh..nothing!" Dorothy blinked, quickly shoving the cloth back over the book and standing up. Maud tilted her head slightly, and her eyebrows pushed together before she shook it off.

"Okay..." she muttered, turning her head, blinking away the rest of the sleep with rapid flutters of her eyelashes, and staring to the window.

"We should probably get going..." she began, standing up. Her dress wasn't in too bad of shape, considering the fact they had literally been sprinting through the rain last night, and her hair had retained a bit of a wave from sleeping on it wet.

"We need to get to town today, by dark. That way we can get back to my father by tomorrow night." she pressed, grabbing the basket and brushing past Dorothy. The wolf cracked his amber eyes open.

"Going so soon?" he yawned, stretching. Maud nodded. He sighed.

"At least allow me to walk you back to town..." he sighed, pausing for a moment. Maud blinked, seemingly on the same train of thought.

"The village must've been destroyed..." she stated, a slight tremble to her voice. "All those poor pigs..." she muttered. Dorothy's eyebrows slanted up in sympathy. The wolf frowned - if that was possible, which Dorothy assumed it was since she was seeing it.

"My masonry kit.." he stammered after a moment.

"I could see if they need some help rebuilding...I mean..it's the least I can do...to pay my dues and...huh..." he rambled, standing up and heading to the back room. He came bag with a few tools and an array of buckets and dry cement mix.

"Would you..."

"Of course." Maud blinked, picking up as much as she could carry. Dorothy followed suit, carrying the cement, and the wolf slung his sack of tools over his shoulder.

"Okay guys..let's go..." Dorothy mumbled, her face blocked by the large bag of cement. Good thing she had been helping on the farm since she was just a kid. With all those years of chores, carrying the large bag of cement wasn't too difficult. Maud nodded, and held the door open for the Dorothy and the wolf, shutting it quietly as she exited the house herself.

It was worse than they could possibly have imagined. The village laid in utter destruction, the shacks of hay flattened, and a group of shaking pigs gathered in the center.

"Wait! Wait!" Maud shouted as they caught sight of the wolf, and immediately began to panic.

"We've come to help you!" she added. The wolf lowered his head.

"I'm scaring them again..." he muttered. One pig squealed, coming a bit closer, seemingly examining the large creature before him or her, before quickly rejoining the group. There was a few minutes of continued back and forth sounds, apparently some sort of decision, and then the pig came forward again.

"Can you accept my apology? For everything I mean." he added cautiously. The pig made a sighing sound, nodding and reaching out a hoof. The wolf shook it with his paw.

"Woa-" Dorothy exclaimed, as a burst of light broke forth from the handshake. "Huh..." the wolf's voice rang out. But it wasn't coming from the wolf. It was coming from a boy who looked slightly older than Maud; with tangled stormy colored hair, and golden brown eyes.

"No way!" he exclaimed.

"All I had to do was apologize this whole time!?" he grinned, turning to face the girls. That was what that woman had meant by pay his dues? And the whole time he had thought he had to protect the village, or..or do as much to help them as he could...or...some other crazy thing. He had never thought a simple apology would work. After all, every time he got close to them they were thrown into a panic, part of his punishment he supposed - for voluntarily terrorizing them when he was human. He wiggled his bare feet, watching his ten toes in amusement and tugging at the fabric of the gray long sleeved shirt. He carefully stood up. Maud blinked.

"You weren't always a wolf..." she muttered after a moment. While it was true she hadn't come across any talking animals in her time, the level of sentience in some of them made it seem all around plausible. He shook his head, brushing a hand through his shaggy hair.

"No...I was...I wasn't very nice to the pigs though..." he muttered.

"Wasn't very nice in general." he added after a moment, awkwardly.

"The name's Ralph." he introduced himself, holding out a hand. Dorothy plopped the large bag of cement down onto the ground as the pigs gathered around. Maud smiled, shaking his outstretched hand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Ralph." she chuckled lightly.

"Yeah...uh..yeah it is." Dorothy agreed, scratching the back of her head and trying to keep a small smile up. Village of pigs, she could handle. Talking wolf, she could handle. But person turning into a wolf, then turning back into a person. It was getting to the point that that feeling of being in a dream as beginning to sneak back up on her, although from the stinging in her kneecaps, she could tell she was more awake than ever.

"Should we go now.."

"Oh! You're right Dorothy." Maud smiled, setting down the buckets she had hauled down from the house, and swinging her basket back to rest beside her leg as usual, hanging from her left hand. Ralph nodded.

"Safe travels!" he called over his shoulder, crouching down as he began to explain the basic concepts of masonry to the villagers. Maud threw a hand up in dismissal as she began to walk back along the path they had first entered the town on - the one that would lead back to the diverging fork. Dorothy just followed in silence, nodding to the wolf...man...wolf...Ralph with an unsure smile, before they were out of sight.

"Hey..uh...I wanted to ask you something Maud." Dorothy muttered as they continued down the heavily forested path. Towering oaks and maples were what made up the majority of the woods on both sides - their leaves varying from oriole orange, to flaming red, and sunny shades of yellow. She currently held an exceptionally large, sharply five pronged, Maple leaf of a twilight pink color in her hands, fiddling with it as she started the conversation with her friend.

"Sure. Shoot for it." Maud chuckled, throwing Dorothy a squinting smile. "Well...I just was curious.." she started.

"What's that book you have in your basket...?" she asked.

Maud's smile dropped.

* * *

**Author's Note:** First off, I would like to apologize for my tardiness of posting this chapter! D: The universe decided to throw a combination of crappy wifi problems, ACTs, essays, exams, the flu, and extracurricular meets at me. Hopefully after this week I will be back to my normal updating schedule...but if for any reason I don't update on time - don't worry, I will eventually update. Because I am sticking with this until the end. Also, feel free to point out any mistakes and I will go back and fix them, because I whipped through this trying to get it submitted and written. I might change some stuff later, since I feel like it might be a bit too cheesy...but for now this is how it will be. :)


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